Special Collections Adds New Features to Web Site

Special collections will be adding two new features to the departmental web site during the course of autumn 2003. A finding aid for the Abe Plotkin collection and a medieval manuscript site will be added in the near future. Abe Plotkin served with the United States Army during World War II and was present during the liberation of Ohrdruf Concentration camp. Mr. Plotkin took photographs of the camp after liberation and he also became involved with providing assistance to liberated concentration camp inmates. Mr. Plotkin wrote letters to United States based relatives of liberated inmates and also wrote to his own family members in Scranton detailing the events he had witnessed. After returning to the United States Mr. Plotkin built a successful career in the shoe business but remained active in a wide variety of community service organizations. He served as president of the Easter Seals, where he originated an ad hoc committee for the transportation of the aging and handicapped which evolved into COLTS, the Lackawanna Transportation System. In recent decades he has been deeply involved with Holocaust education and has spoken to grammar school through college-age students. His collection contains photographs, correspondence, Holocaust educational materials, and materials related to the Easter Seals. The collection is open for research.

 

Weinberg Library is privileged to own three medieval manuscripts. These manuscripts will be featured on the web site which will contain a few images from each of the manuscripts as well as a detailed physical description of the books. The web site is designed to provide detailed scholarly information about the manuscripts so that scholars who may be doing research on a book from a similar period can find essential information about the book without traveling to Scranton. Although everyone is familiar with beautifully illustrated medieval manuscripts, most medieval books did not contain paintings or elaborate decorations. Nonetheless, Weinberg Library owns one manuscript, a large early 14th century choral book, that contains eight paintings, mostly from the Christmas season. The other two manuscripts are a small 13th century Franciscan breviary and a late 15th century Dutch or German choral book. Neither has paintings, but both are interesting for their content and physical construction. The Library also owns a late 16th century Spanish choral book which has not yet been included due to its poor condition. The collections will be linked off the Special Collections Homepage at: http://academic.scranton.edu/department/wml/spcoll.html